Resource Productivity Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

After the earthquake, tsunami and Fukushima nuclear incident in North East Japan in March 2011, there is increasing discussion of reconstructing the damaged areas in an environmentally sustainable manner in Japan. The politicians are beginning to argue that this is an opportunity to reconstruct Japanese society in a more sustainable manner. This paper attempts to examine whether there are potential visions of a sustainable Japan in the future in Japan's strategy for sustainability and environmental management in the 1990s to the 2000s. The paper argues that Japan's sustainability strategy can be characterized by its emphasis on improving resource productivity by recognizing environmental challenges as opportunities for further technical progress, innovation, and industrial competitiveness. Then, the paper seeks to further clarify such characteristics of the strategy for sustainability by examination of Japan's sound materialcycle policy since the 1990s until 2010, with particular attention given to recycling policies that are based on the concept of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and the eco-town program for establishing a recycling infrastructure. After arguing that national interest on policy for increasing resource productivity may not be universal but may depend on difference in industrial structure of the country, the paper overviews and analyzes three recent sustainability strategies developed by the Ministry of the Environment of Japan and the Government of Japan in the past few years. They are "Strategy for an Environmental Nation in the 21 st Century" in 2007, "Clean Asia Initiative" in 2008, and "New Growth Strategy" in 2010. By doing so, the paper argues that Japan's sustainable strategy continues to emphasize "increasing efficiency". It then concludes that it is a time to give greater emphasis to total reduction of the environmental impact of production and consumption to achieve the next step of sustainability for Japan and elsewhere in the world.

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- Resource Productivity, Surveys

The complex relationship between economic growth, job creation, peak oil and climate change is discussed. This starts from seven facts and leads to five propositions to deal with the consequences of these facts. The overall message is that global economic policy should be redirected, that we need a better understanding of the reasons for the current economic malaise, that "peak oil" remains a concern (despite shale "fracking"), and that climate change is a relevant economic issue demanding a serious response. There is probably only one strategy that has a chance of reversing the present ଝ This paper reflects views expressed by the authors at a 1-day symposium held at INSEAD on April 10, 2013, in honor of the lifetime research by the first author. The following individuals contributed to the conference held at INSEAD on April 10, 2013 and assisted in shaping the present paper although they have not participated as authors: Paolo Frankl (IEA), Marina Fischer-Kowalski (IFF-Klagenfurt), Landis Gabel (INSEAD) and Ludo van der Heyden (INSEAD).

- by Skip Laitner
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- Climate Change, Economic Growth, Energy, Resource Productivity

This paper briefly reviews the economic literature on resource scarcity, resource availability and economic growth. The Club of Rome study "Limits to Growth" was given short shrift by economists because it contradicted historical evidence that resource prices have been declining, not increasing, since the industrial revolution thanks to technological progress in exploration, mining and refining of metals and fossil fuels. Recent events, however, suggest that resource prices are no longer declining, either because of increasing demand by developing countries (e.g. China) or because of limits to technological progress -or for other reasons. In any case, this situation suggests that resource productivity is far too low, today, and needs to be boosted sharply. This can be done by cutting subsidies and shifting taxes away from labor and capital onto resource extraction and consumption, thus promoting technological innovation in resource efficiency.

- by Robert U. Ayres
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- Economic Growth, Energy efficiency, Resource Productivity, Energy Efficiency

Even though rice has high importance for food security and agricultural GDP in the agrarian economy of Odisha, production is constrained by several factors. The trends, patterns, and instability of key production parameters such as area, yield need to be studied to suggest insightful measures for the development of rice cultivation in the state. The resource use efficiency also assumes significance to determine the profitability of rice production. The study used both secondary and primary data and analyzed trend, instability, and resource use efficiency using compound annual growth method (CAGR), Cuddy-Della Valle Instability Index, and Cobb-Douglas production function respectively. While the area under rice in Odisha marked a negative annual growth (-0.18), the yield and productions have shown significant positive growth of 1.95 and 1.76% respectively for the period of 1960-2019. In respect of instability in production and productivity, moderate variability was observed. However, ...

- by Rammah Zwan
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- Productivity, Agriculture, Resource Productivity, Production economics
- by David Ness
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- Human Geography, Services, Resource Productivity, Ecological Footprint

The current study investigates a central premise of the resource-based view of the firm-that managers are a potential source of value creation for the firm. Using data from professional sports teams, we test theory regarding the effects of managerial ability, human resource stocks, and managers' actions on resource value creation. While results indicate managerial ability affects resource productivity, this effect is less pronounced with increases in the quality of firm resources. Further, we investigate the extent to which managerial actions that synchronize resource bundles account for the influence of managerial ability and resource context on a firm's performance advantage. These results contribute to our understanding of resource management and provide empirical evidence for the importance of managerial ability in the resource-based view.

- by Brian Connelly
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- Marketing, Strategic Management, Human Resource Management, Synchronization

This working paper provides the first comparative and quantitative assessment of material consumption and resource productivity in Asia between 1985 and 2005. 19 Asian countries were selected for the analysis, together representing more than 90% of GDP in Asia. The study is based on the methodological framework of material flow accounting and analysis (MFA), as established by the OECD and EUROSTAT. The study shows that Asia is not only the growth centre of the world economy in terms of monetary production and consumption, it is also the world region with the highest growth rates in material and energy consumption. With a difference of a factor of 40 between the countries with the highest and lowest per capita material consumption, vast inequalities exist between the various countries in Asia. Looking at developments over time, we find that overall resource productivity has not significantly improved in Asia over the past 25 years. However, it is impossible to generalise as there are also large differences in resource productivity across Asia. Japan, for example, was almost 20 times more resource efficient in the year 2005 than the country with the lowest resource efficiency, Indonesia. We also show that material consumption and energy-related CO2 emissions are strongly correlated, despite very different levels of GDP per capita. We conclude that Asian countries need to alter current development trends and help avoid a situation of severe global resource scarcities and (potentially armed) conflicts about access to limited natural resources. Increasing resource productivity, erasing poverty in the developing countries and reducing resource use in the high-consuming countries are key priorities in a joint Asian policy agenda towards “Green Industries”.

c ''Green growth''-from a sectoral to an integrated view of the economy. c Green investment can increase the GDP. c ''Green growth'' is both, rapid growth of green sectors and ''de-growth'' of others. c ''Zero growth'' is no solution of the environmental problem. c Rich countries can achieve high speed of eco-innovation even with low growth rates.

- by Martin Jänicke
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- Energy Policy, Multidisciplinary, Resource Productivity

Purpose of this article is to answer on question “Which environment standards multinational enterprises (MNEs) need to adopt, global or local, and do changes in environmental standards cause changes in market value or visa versa?” Global corporate environmental standard represents MNEs recognize competitive asset or liability to enhances market value. In countries where environmental regulation is either lax or not enforced, it is cheaper to operate than in countries with strict environmental regulations. From another point, value-seeking investors investing in low-standard countries may view local environmental standards as counterproductive to long-term profit performance. Firms conforming to a higher global environmental standard may find that the strategy enhances value. This conclusion is similar to some other scholars (Cohen et al. 1995; Hart and Ahuja (1996; Russo and Fouts 1997 and Finally and Nehrt 1996), whose found that higher “quality” firms which adopt global environmental standards pollute less.

Australia's export oriented large natural resources sectors of agriculture and mining, the ways in which large scale services such as nutrition, water, housing, transport and mobility, and energy are organized, as well as the consumption patterns of Australia's wealthy urban households, create a unique pattern of overall resource use in Australia. In an attempt to contribute to a new environmental information system compatible with economic accounts, we represent Australia's resource use by employing standard biophysical indicators for resource use developed within the OECD context. We are looking at the last three decades of resource use and the economic, social and environmental implications. We also discuss scenarios of future resource use patterns based on a stocks and flows model of the Australian economy. We argue that current extractive economic patterns have contributed to the recent economic boom in Australia but will eventually lead to negative social and environmental outcomes. While there is currently little evidence of political support for changing the economic focus on export-oriented agriculture and mining industries, there is significant potential for improvements in socio-technological systems, and room for more sustainable household consumption.

- by Heinz Schandl
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- Industrial Ecology, Natural Resources, Multidisciplinary, Resource Productivity

- by Yasuhiko HOTTA
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- Resource Productivity, Surveys

Governments world-wide increasingly see energy efficiency as an important aspect of sustainability. However, there is a debate in the literature as to whether the impact of improved energy efficiency on reducing energy use might be partially, or more than wholly, offset through "rebound" and "backfire" effects. This paper clarifies the theoretical conditions under which such effects would occur and explores their likely significance using a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model of the Scottish economy. We find that for Scotland a general improvement in energy efficiency in the production sectors of the economy initially produces rebound effects that eventually grow into backfire. Energy use ultimately increases in response to an efficiency gain and the ratio of GDP to CO 2 emissions falls. The economic factors underpinning rebound effects are straightforward: energy efficiency improvements result in an effective cut in energy prices, which produces output, substitution, competitiveness and income effects that stimulate energy demands. However, the presence of strong rebound or even backfire does not mean that efficiency-enhancing policies are irrelevant: rather it suggests that such policies operating alone are insufficient to generate environmental improvements. The implication is that a co-ordinated portfolio of energy policies is required.

- by Karen Turner
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- Ecological Economics, Energy Policy, Energy efficiency, Applied Economics

In this article we test the long-term dematerialization potential for Australia in terms of materials, energy, and water use as well as CO2 emissions by introducing concrete targets for major sectors. Major improvements in the construction and housing, transport and mobility, and food and nutrition sectors in the Australian economy, if coupled with significant reductions in the resource export sectors, would substantially improve the current material, energy, and emission intensive pattern of Australia's production and consumption system. Using the Australian Stocks and Flows Framework we model all system interactions to understand the contributions of large-scale changes in technology, infrastructure, and lifestyle to decoupling the economy from the environment. The modeling shows a considerable reduction in natural resource use, while energy and water use decrease to a much lesser extent because a reduction in natural resource consumption creates a trade-off in energy use. It also shows that trade and economic growth may continue, but at a reduced rate compared with a business-as-usual scenario. The findings of our modeling are discussed in light of the large body of literature on dematerialization, eco-efficiency, and rebound effects that may occur when efficiency is increased. We argue that Australia cannot rely on incremental efficiency gains but has to undergo a sustainability transition to achieve a low carbon future to keep in line with the international effort to avoid climate change and resource use conflicts. We touch upon the institutional changes that would be required to guide a sustainability transition in the Australian economy, such as an emission trading scheme.

- by Heinz Schandl
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- Climate Change, Industrial Ecology, Economic Growth, Institutional Change

This paper emphasises that more holistic infrastructure systems are of great importance to achieving sustainable development of China and hence of the planet. Whilst rapid urbanisation brings the prospect of economic growth and a higher... more

- by David Ness
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- Human Geography, Services, Resource Productivity, Ecological Footprint

Sustainable development which is based on the economic, environmental and social dimension has been a never-ending theme. One requirement to reach a corporate sustainable management is first by establishing a sound environmental management. The MIPS Concept that was developed by Prof. "Bio" Schmidt-Bleek and the Wuppertal Institute Germany in 1993 is very useful to measure the environmental performance from a

- by Thomas R Casten
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- Climate Change, Economic Growth, Energy, Resource Productivity
- by Lorenz Hilty
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- Information Society, Natural Resources, Resource Productivity, Dematerialisation

- by Thomas Measham
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- Industrial Ecology, Natural Resources, Multidisciplinary, Resource Productivity

- by John Swales
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- Ecological Economics, Energy Policy, Energy efficiency, Applied Economics

This paper attempts to analyze the efficiency of maize
(Zea mays L.) production in Numan Local Government of
Adamawa State, Nigeria. Multistage sampling technique was
employed to select Ninety seven (97) maize producing farmers
for the study. Data for the study were collected using structured
questionnaires. Multiple regression analysis was used to study
the relationship between inputs and output. The result shows that
there is a positive and significant relationship between farm
sizes, quality of seed used, fertilizer, plough-cost, labour with
maize output in the study area.

- by IJSRP Journal
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- Resource Productivity, Multiple Regressions